Not Quite BFFs
by ayellowbirds
Summary: Celestia thinks that Twilight Sparkle has been doing a great job studying friendship, but a qualitative study sometimes needs quantitative background: now, Twilight & Spike have to learn the meaning of casual friendship.
1. Prologue: Twilight & Spike

It was an ordinary Saturday morning in Ponyville, which meant that Rainbow Dash had slept in late, and there was moderate cloud cover blown in from the naturally-occurring "wild" weather over the Everfree Forest. This forced a certain cross-eyed pegasus to fill in after finishing her postal route to buck away the cumulus. The sun moved across the sky per Celestia's will, and it was one of those mornings where Luna let the moon linger during daytime in the west, as if the royal sisters were greeting each other from across the skies of Equestria. Morning dew was just beginning to dry from the leaves of all the flowers and leaves, and ponies (aside from the aforementioned many-hued pegasus) were beginning to go about their days, working and playing as was appropriate to their age and occupation. Of course, more than a few were playing when they ought to be working, though some ponies were working when many would say they ought to be playing.

The unicorn Twilight Sparkle was the latter type of pony. At 8:02:56 AM (according to the _very_ precise clock she kept), she was already halfway through her self-assigned chores of reorganizing as many of the books in the library as she could stand. While she worked, Spike watched through the kitchen door, looking up every few seconds to keep an eye on what she was doing. While Spike was Twilight's assistant and frequently saw Twilight as a surrogate parent, he had a tendency to manage and organize things for her beyond the job description

Twilight's compulsive organizational tendencies unfortunately did not result in a practical arrangement, and the logic of the moment that declared that _Super Naturals_ belonged under "H" for "Herbalism" might be forgotten when she was looking for it an hour later under "S". The draconic instinct for hoarding meant that Spike had an almost eidetic memory when it came to the location of even the most minor item, and with a casual eye for where Twilight was putting books while he prepared his breakfast (a mica sandwich with tourmaline sprinkles for a bit of flavor), he would be able to easily locate any of the books she was now misplacing. It always amazed Spike how much trouble a pony who spent so much time in libraries could have in understanding the basics of cataloging.

At the moment, Spike was focused more on food than knowledge organization, taking care to peel a layer of mica without breaking it. A sudden burp, however, defeated his intentions as a gout of green flame burst from between his lips. As the flame winked out, a finely-crafted scroll hovered in its place. At the familiar sound of a dragon belch, Twilight turned to face the kitchen.

"Was that a letter from the Princess?" she asked, continuing before Spike could respond, "Can you bring it in here?"

Taking a quick bite of his sandwich, Spike brought the scroll in, holding it out for Twilight to grab hold of with her magic. The purple aura wrapped around the edges of the scroll, undoing the seal and unfurling the scroll so that Twilight could begin reading it.

"My Dear Twilight Sparkle," began the addressee, reading the letter aloud in the familiar intonation she always slipped into when reading messages from Princess Celestia. Spike often felt as though he could hear the Princess's voice imposed over Twilight's when she read in this manner, and to some extent Twilight did seem to unconsciously imitate her mentor's accent and cadence when reading her words. "I have been pleased beyond words to read of the lessons that you and your friends have learned since I assigned you to study the magic of friendship. Together with the brief opportunities I have had to spend time with you and the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony, I have seen that you six young mares (and Spike, as well) have formed the bonds of an ever-lasting friendship. However, a pony cannot, _should_ not solely rely on her very best friends, and neither should she regard others in her life as being outside of this circle. As a leader, I am often called upon to solve disputes between ponies, and in such cases I must act as a friend to all my subjects, even those I do not know well; such openness is the essence of harmony. Therefore, I assign you and Spike to reach out beyond your five mare friends, and spend the next several weeks getting to know the rest of Ponyville..."

That imitation had faltered as Twilight read through the letter, and by the time she got to her new assignment, her voice was wavering.

"We have to make _more_ friends?" the purple unicorn asked, her head tilted to the side in confusion. "Well... I suppose that a larger and more diverse group would provide more accurate information and allow for a broader understanding."

"Oh, absolutely!" agreed Spike, smiling and nodding emphatically, and then stopping. "Um, what does that mean?"

"Do you remember that assignment on research methods back in Canterlot?" asked Twilight, waving a hoof in the general direction of the city as if it was near enough to point out. Spike nodded a little more hesitantly. "It's all about..."

Twilight paused to think, the faces of ponies she'd met since coming to Ponyville coming to mind: residents, frequent visitors, mares and stallions who worked in the town but lived elsewhere, and the occasional celebrity drawn by Rarity's work or the proximity of the town to Canterlot and Manehattan. There were a _lot_ of ponies in this small town, and sometimes their faces seemed to blur together to the point that she thought she'd seen the same ponies in two places at once.

"...sample sizes," she continued, "I guess. If I try to learn about friendship from only five or so other ponies, then I'm probably not really going to understand what friendship means to most ponies."

"Well," said Spike, tapping his chin with a single claw. "In that case, maybe you should talk to somepony who knows lots of other ponies?"

"Right you are, Spike! And there's no two ponies I can think of who'd be better for that, than..." Twilight paused as she looked up at a clock on the wall, "...oh! In fact, I know exactly where they'll be right now! I've got to run, Spike! Keep an eye on things here while I'm out, I'll be back as soon as I have more information."

As Twilight cantered out of the room and released her telekinetic hold on the scroll, it gently fell to the ground and settled in front of Spike. Reaching to pick it up to put it away, he paused as a single dark spot on the paper vellum caught his eye. The thick, expensive material of the scroll—standard for messages from the Princess, more likely due to the insistence of her attendants than her own personal tastes—was marred by two separate thick, uneven rectangles of ink, just large enough to be recognized as attempts to blot out an error.

"Huh, weird," mumbled Spike as he picked up the scroll, "never saw Princess Celestia make a typo. Oh well!" Rolling up the scroll, Spike filed it away with numerous others, and returned to the kitchen, his unfinished sandwich on his mind .


	2. Ch 1: Cup of Brown Joy

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Twilight Sparkle left the library and headed into Ponyville proper at her usual speed, her new task of making some more _casual_ friends on her mind. The Princess was spot on in more ways than she perhaps realized, although it was just as likely her legendary wisdom extended even to this: while Twilight had certainly gotten to know many of the citizens of Ponyville by name, she rarely interacted with them more than was necessary for day-to-do living, or for the occasional management of the unmitigated catastrophes that her more outgoing companions called "adventures." Yes, she knew their names, and it could certainly be said that seeing how a pony dealt with disaster told you more about them than seeing how they dealt with the everyday, but it didn't exactly make for the friendliest relations. The more she thought about it, the more Twilight realized that she was treating the majority of Ponyville's citizens as she had once treated her fellow students back in Canterlot, and the more she thought about _that_, the slower her gait became. Galloping turned to cantering, cantering to trotting, and finally to simply walking through the streets.

Galloping. She had been entering Ponyville at full speed, ignoring everything around her as she focused on her new assignment. She wondered, perhaps was that part of the problem? She was always a task-oriented pony, but sometimes she wound up skipping steps that she couldn't immediately rationalize as necessary. Now, she began to take stock of the town around her, looking around and considering the _where_, _what, _and _who_ as the basis for the _how_.

The _how_ was "how to make friends with others in Ponyville". That began to answer the _where_: the town of Ponyville. Founded by Earth ponies in the foothills of Canterlot Mountain, it was occasionally shadowed by the drifting pegasus city of Cloudsdale (wrought from a sustained _cumulonimbus calvus_ with steadily flowing _virga_, renewed by _fracti_ and _panni_ regularly gathered from wild weather, observed a little voice from her studies in weather magic), and situated at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Indeed, the land it was on had originally been part of those same wild-growing woodlands, and here and there one could still find enormous stumps where old-growth trees had been felled when Applejack's Granny Smith was still a young mare.

That _where_ itself said something about the _what_: what made Ponyville unique, what businesses and places of interest were located there, what ponies who lived there did to be sociable. Twilight's slow walk let her observe the buildings around her in detail: most were constructed of sturdy, warm-colored local timber, with hoof-mixed daub layered over wattle that was usually painted with a creamy-colored wash. Straw thatching covered the roofs of most of these buildings, and ornamental (although also frequently edible) plants that were allowed to grow wild and untrimmed from window boxes were currently in fashion. The most distinctive thing, however, was the multiple stories: few of the houses in Ponyville had less than three floors, and it was not unusual to see higher stories built to overhang in a manner that might seem precarious without a better understanding of the architectural supports involved.

Twilight stopped walking entirely, and considered this. It was possible—indeed very probable—that the thatched roofs were chosen due to their impermanent nature, allowing additional stories to be constructed with minimal effort. A family could simply build upwards as it grew, making additional rooms and stories rather than moving to a larger house elsewhere in Ponyville. In all likelihood, this was due to the nearness of the town to the Everfree Forest: the later generations, perhaps less inclined towards adventurous homesteading than their predecessors, would rather build their community upwards than out into the wilderness.

Continuing her observations, Twilight noted that the town was built around a river, providing both fresh water and a source of power, and a train station had recently been established; the town was rapidly becoming a popular whistle stop on the way between Canterlot and larger communities like Fillydelphia and Manehattan. It likely wouldn't be long before some would come to see the currently _exurban_ rural community as a suburb of one of the nearby cities, and more and more ponies from those cities seemed to know of Ponyville as the center of recent events of note.

Twilight had also been at the center of most of those events, but careful attention by Princess Celestia had prevented the shy unicorn and her companions from becoming too famous as a consequence, avoiding the attention of paparazzi. Still, celebrities and other notables were more and more frequently visiting Ponyville deliberately, rather than treating it as a bothersome stopover.

That the celebrities were mostly visitors rather than locals started to answer the _who_: the citizens of Ponyville, despite their nearness to the famed metropolis of Canterlot and proximity to the urban hub of Manehattan, were mostly humble folk. True, most of the younger generation were big dreamers with aspirations of fame or fortune (and very often both), but they still retained that essential closeness to nature that so often defined earth pony communities. This was true even of Ponyville's unicorns and pegasi, many of whom seemed more like their wingless, hornless neighbors than any of their kin in Cloudsdale and Canterlot. Some, like Fluttershy, were so much more "Earthy" than was expected, that Twilight wondered if perhaps they were really meant to be born of a different tribe.

On the other hand, some of the Earth ponies in town acted more like the stuck-up aristocrats and nobleponies of Canterlot. Twilight had overheard some disconcerting things about the young daughter of the Rich family, although it was hard to tell how much was genuine misbehavior, and how much was the exaggeration of an imaginative trio of fillies. She made a mental note to look into the matter a little more, if she had the opportunity to talk to Cheerilee once again. Some ponies took noble bearing as an excuse to look down upon those who did not fit with their idea of harmony.

Not that nobility was necessarily a bad thing, so long as it was tempered with kindness or generosity of spirit. That was half the reason Twilight was crossing town: to seek the assistance of a pony who was an important part of Ponyville by virtue of behaving so much like she was from elsewhere. The other half of the reason was more complicated, as was the reason that Twilight Sparkle knew that she would be at the tea shop at this time of day.

○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○ **Pinkie Pie ○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○**

Pinkie Pie was bouncing up and down. Slowly. Bouncing verrrrry slowly, because she didn't want to be seen. But, she couldn't help but be excited, because she was, is, and will be Pinkie Pie. Which was short for Pinkamena Diane Responsibility-To-Family-And-Community Pie, which was a silly name that she didn't like to say in full. So she had everyone call her Pinkie Pie, except sometimes she could say that her middle name was Responsibility, or Family, or Community, and it would be **true**. She could also say her middle name was And, but she only ever had one excuse to say that.

Right now, she was excited because she was buying new teas, and tea-making supplies. Well, Rarity was the one buying them, but Pinkie Pie gave her the money to buy them for her, and told her which ones to get, and Pinkie had made extra-special-sure to describe them in detail so that she wouldn't have to ask Rarity to return them afterwards, because Tealove always wrapped things up so nicely and a pony couldn't be sure she had the right things in the boxes until after she got home and unwrapped them. She also made double-sure to give Rarity extra bits to buy herself something, although Rarity said it was fun just to look around the tea shop. Except she used more words, and said things in a funny accent.

Pinkie Pie loved tea, especially with lots of sugar, because tea meant teacakes and sweet biscuits and all kinds of yummy treats that she was really good at making. She also loved the kettles and teapots, and the little tiny cups and saucers, and the fancy strainers and spoons, because it was all so **cute** and you could have tea parties. Pinkie loved any kind of party, except maybe the parties that the ponies in Canterlot had, because those were really boring and nobody was really having fun even if they said they were. Pinkie could tell these things.

But, even though Pinkie loved tea and everything that came with it, she wasn't going into the tea shop, because of what happened the first time she went in there. As well as what happened the third time, and the fourth time, and the sixth time, and the last time. For some reason, she didn't remember what happened the second, fifth, or seventh time, so she wasn't sure if that was part of it. And really, she only broke _one_ little cup, and that was because she had been surprised the last time she was in there. If Tealove hadn't snuck up on her, she wouldn't have jumped like that. And it wasn't her fault she spilled that jar of Iron Goddess tea leaves, and she offered to help clean it up. Pinkie Pie was really good at cleaning up messes, after all the parties she hosted.

The time she sneezed in the imported Neighponese matcha wasn't her fault, somepony bumped the counter and a little bit got in her snout. And Tealove didn't have to look at her so mean when she suggested that you could use the pu-erh as a dish to serve other teas. Really, it was in the shape of a plate already, it just made sense.

In any case, Tealove said Pinkie Pie was not allowed in the tea shop ever again. Which was silly, because they looked so much alike, you'd think that she and Tealove would have more in common. But that didn't mean she couldn't have other ponies shop there for her. Which was why, when Twilight Sparkle came walking up to find her, Pinkie Pie was sitting on a tree branch opposite Ponyville's number-one only tea shop, the Tea Cozy.

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Twilight had been there yesterday evening when Pinkie Pie had interrupted brunch with Rarity to beg one of the two of them to help her purchase some goods from a tea shop on the north side of Ponyville; apparently the energetic earth pony had somehow managed to annoy the owner enough to have a long-term ban of vague and ominous duration, and needed somepony to shop on her behalf. She had even managed to produce a written copy of the terms of her banning, which specified that others may shop on her behalf, so long as Pinkie Pie herself did not come within ten paces of the store, "_so long as she could not tell Bai Hao Yinzhen from Bai Mudan._"

Rarity wound up agreeing to the task, in part because she found shopping to be a wonderful inspiration for new designs, especially when it came to things other than clothing, since that meant she could take on the challenge of adapting designs and motifs not ordinarily associated with dresses and hats. Twilight suspected that her fellow unicorn's generous nature had more to do with it, and would not have been surprised if she tried to cover part of the costs herself, considering the difference in income between the two mares.

As a result, Twilight had been privy to the schedule the two would be making, since Pinkie and Rarity has spent roughly three minutes negotiating what time of day would work for both of them, and she knew just about when to arrive. She spotted the familiar magenta fluff of Pinkie Pie's tail hanging from a tree, opposite a small brown building with a green tile roof and blue trim on the windows. Slowly bobbing up and down, the puff of horsehair bore an uncanny resemblance to a cloud at sunset over Manehattan, or perhaps an errant piece of cotton candy caught on the breeze. Even as a slow-walking stallion excused his way past her, Twilight was struck by a temptation to simply sit and watch the hypnotic bobbing of that pink fluff, but she had an assignment to begin.

She stepped forward, coughed in a deliberate attention-grabbing manner, and opened her mouth to greet Pinkie Pie. That was the precise moment when the slowly bobbing tail began instead to twitch.

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ **◊ Rarity ◊ **◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊

Rarity had been enjoying the visit to the Tea Cozy ever so much, there was simply too much in the way of gorgeous, delicately sculpted craftsponyship for her to rush. Oh, she certainly knew that Pinkie Pie was waiting for her, and she didn't mean to leave her friend unattended and without those goods which Rarity had agreed to procure for her, but she could not pass up an opportunity to seek inspiration. Nor could she pass up an opportunity to see such fine practical sculpture. Like her own fashion designs, the ceramics on sale at Tealove's darling little shop were works of art that also served a functional purpose, and yet it was not a necessity. A pony could just as easily drink tea from an ordinary mug, if they really must.

It was perhaps due to her appreciation for the art of tea that Tealove tolerated Rarity entering on Pinkie Pie's behalf. Evidently there had been some unpleasantness between the two, and the proprietress of the Tea Cozy had barred the pink baker from her shop, in order to prevent further incidents. However, Tealove was—like Rarity herself—a businesspony first, and an appreciator of good manners second. This meant that, while Pinkie Pie herself could not approach the Tea Cozy, she was not forbidden from conducting business with it, and Tealove had made it clear that Pinkie Pie was perfectly welcome to have others enter the shop for her.

It struck Rarity as something of a strange irony that two ponies who were so similar should be so very different. Not Tealove and herself, no: Tealove and Pinkie Pie. Both mares delighted in the sound of laughter, they both had a profound passion for sweets and decorations, and they both frequently held parties. However, Tealove enjoyed a gentle chuckle or giggle like jingling bells where Pinkie Pie sought guffaws and cackles, and Tealove's decorations and parties were subtle, graceful affairs where ponies sat and enjoyed one another's company without much in the way of running around and bumping into one another to the accompaniment of booming music. The end result was that each pony saw the other as foalish, and yet it was also apparent to any who observed the two of them that the essential similarities were the source of frustration as much as the differences. It reminded Rarity very much of the relationship between estranged siblings, or perhaps even very close but still quarrelsome siblings.

Such thoughts were, however, at the back of Rarity's mind. At the moment, she was distracted from approaching the register by the presence of some celadon cups with an outer layer of openwork that created small windows to the solid inner layer, which had a contrasting earth-tone glaze. The effect it created had given her some ideas, and she wanted to cement the image in her mind before leaving.

"Lovely, aren't they?" asked Tealove from her place behind the counter, where she was sipping at a cup of lapsang souchong. Tealove's fondness for the pine-smoked tea was the one ignoble quirk of the otherwise elegant and refined mare that Rarity could not abide, and part of her was taking her time shopping in the hope that the offending beverage would be absent by the time she was ready to leave. How a delicate, graceful pony could be so fond of a variety of tea that smelled like the aftermath of an ill-maintained campfire was completely beyond the purple-maned unicorn. "Imported, you know. Some things can't be done with hoof and horn."

"Yes, I've often considered asking dear little Spike's help, just imagine what sort of fine work a young dragon's opposable claws might be capable of in comparison," observed Rarity, as she turned her head to levitate a basket full of teas and teaware. "But I'm afraid I really must wrap things up."

"Of course," said Tealove, beginning to review the items Rarity had procured from Pinkie Pie's list, jotting down a receipt with a pencil between her lips. Ten ounces of jasmine in "gunpowder" form, because the little pearls of tea amused Pinkie. Twelve ounce tisanes: mint blend, 12 ounces chamomile, 12 ounces strawberry leaf. A sampler set of loose-leaf white teas.

A set of custom-ordered cups and saucers from Trottingham, a new tea tray, and a Neighponese cast-iron teapot to replace a ceramic one that baby Pound had recently reduced to a fine powder while throwing a tantrum.

Pushing the bits across the counter with a telekinetic nudge, Rarity smiled, and levitated each package into the air as Tealove boxed, cushioned, and sealed the purchases with ribbons. Another strange similarity to Pinkie Pie: the green mare seemed to unconsciously turn every package of purchased goods into a potential birthday present, wrapping them with the utmost care.

Everything gathered together, Rarity slipped the boxes into her saddlebags, and offered her most gracious thanks to Tealove for her time. Taking one last glance at the exquisite imported celadon cups, she walked to the door, turning the handle with a brief flare of purple.

That was the precise moment Caramel leaned forward to turn the doorknob from the other side, Rarity's own pulling of the door causing the larger body of the stallion to fall forward.

○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○ **Pinkie Pie ○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○**

Pinkie Pie saw it as if in slow motion, but she saw a lot of things as if in slow motion. Even when she wasn't on a sugar high, or a caffeine high. It made it easier to plan pranks, and parties, and especially surprise parties which were kind of like a combination of surprises and parties. This was a surprise, too: that nice stallion who lived by Rarity _and _Rarity both opened the door. At the exact. Same. Time.

And then they fell, and Rarity's saddlebags opened even as she started to reach up to keep the stallion from falling on her, and he tried to catch his balance, and one of the packages went flying into the air. It was a very particular package that Pinkie Pie recognized, because she had been watching Tealove make the packages through the window. Pinkie Pie gasped in shock as she saw it go sailing out the door, clearing two paces, five pace, eight paces from the Tea Cozy...

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Twilight Sparkle watched as the scene before her unfolded, with the analytical and observational skills developed from years of study. The stallion she had seen in Rarity's company sometimes (what was his name? Caramel?) went to open the door with his mouth, just as Rarity walked out. The resulting collision caused a package to slip out of Rarity's saddlebags, flying through the air; just as it happened, Pinkie Pie dove from the tree branch. There were movements a pony was never meant to make, but Pinkie Pie tended to defy expectations on a daily basis. As the pink mare dove from her perch and stretched out her forehooves, Twilight could have sworn she heard a hawk crying out.

In the corner of her eye, Twilight saw the mare behind the counter in the tea shop turn to look out the window. She was mouthing something—counting?—and watching Pinkie dive. The falling mare contorted her body as she neared the ground, seeming to be adopting a very precise form as she landed, forelegs outstretched at an odd angle to catch the package.

Fortunately, there was no crunch, no sound of bending cardboard or cracking ceramics. The package landed atop Pinkie's hooves as if settling on a tabletop, not even skidding or tipping, and Pinkie Pie carefully leaned back and drew the package to herself, cradling it against her body.

"That was SO scary!" she cried out, looking back and forth at the astonished faces of Rarity, Caramel, the tea-shop owner, and Twilight herself, "I thought it was going to break, I was so scared! But it was also kind of fun, in a scary way! Scary b-"

"Oh my goodness, Pinkie Pie!" called out Rarity as she helped Caramel to his hooves, "I am ever so sorry about that! I was certain that I had secured my bags better than that, I am _so_ glad that nothing broke!"

Caramel simply stared in dizzied confusion, while the mare in the teashop mouthed the word "eleven", and turned away, a strangely satisfied expression on her face. Trotting over, Twilight levitated the package up from Pinkie's outstretched hooves, and helped the prone mare to a standing position.

It would not be fair to say that gears turned in Twilight Sparkle's brain, as she was—despite what the mare herself might try to convince you—not a mechanically skillful pony. Turning _pages _might be a more accurate metaphor, particularly if you imagined hastily scrawled notes, diagrams, and other marginalia on those pages. Her ordinary thought process began to decide that it was best to leave well enough alone and not question her friends' antics, as it was far from the first time that something like this had occurred. However, something (some of the marginalia, perhaps?) made her feel as though that might be detrimental to her newest assignment. Reviewing the scene before her and the ponies within it, she decided on a course of action.

"It's perfect!" she declared aloud, to the surprise of Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Caramel. She smiled nervously at the realization she'd spoken rather than thought, and continued, "Um, I mean, not your accident. That I ran into you, that is."

"Don't be silly, Twilight!" replied Pinkie Pie. "Caramel and Rarity are the ones who ran into each other! Except, it was really more like they walked into each other."

The mare and stallion in question looked at each other and blushed in embarrassment, muttering apologies and admissions of their own fault, though Caramel seemed to offer far more of either one. Twilight stepped forward with a dismissive wave of a forehoof, and shook her head.

"No, no," she said. "What I mean is, I just got a letter from Princess Celestia, and this situation may be just what I need in order to complete her latest assignment."

"Why Twilight, dear, whatever do you mean?" asked Rarity, a practiced expression of ladylike confusion on her face.

"Well , apparently the Princess thinks that I've been focusing too much on making and maintaining _best_ friends, and that I need to spend some time connecting with other ponies. So, she's assigned me and Spike to make friends with others in Ponyville."

"But you already _have_ friends," giggled Pinkie Pie. "Lots of friends!"

"Well, I thought so," replied Twilight, starting to slump her body down. "But I guess having five _very_ good friends isn't the same as being friendly with a whole community."

Pinkie Pie and Rarity both opened their mouths as if to speak, then seemed to be stuck in thought. They looked at Twilight, then at each other, and even at Caramel, who seemed as mystified as the two mares.

"Do you mean to say," Rarity asked Twilight, "that, aside from myself, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash..."

Twilight groaned softly and nodded as Rarity spoke, realizing suddenly how awkward this must have sounded.

"...you don't have _any_ other friends in Ponyville?" finished Pinkie Pie, turning the question into a prolonged gasp.

"Does Zecora count?" asked Twilight.

"Well, properly speaking," murmured Rarity, "Zecora lives _outside_ of Ponyville."

Twilight thought this over. Back in Canterlot, she'd rarely thought of such things, but back in Canterlot she wasn't making a special study of friendship. She began to look at things from as objective a perspective as she could manage, realizing how odd it must be for a pony who was supposedly part of a community to have so few genial connections with others in that same community.

"But, that's just the thing! Princess Celestia has assigned me to change that, and I guess," Twilight shrugged, "I want to change it, too? That's why I came looking for you two. If anypony can help me get to know the rest of Ponyville, it's Rarity and Pinkie Pie."

"Twilight, darling," said Rarity, feigning surprise, "why the two of us?"

"Well, Pinkie Pie- you were able to throw together a party with what must have been more than half of Ponyville the day I arrived," explained Twilight, which got an enthusiastic nod from the earth pony in question. "And Sugarcube Corner is the most popular bakery in town, so I figure you must have gotten to know plenty of ponies. Come to think of it, you were able to tell I was new to Ponyville before I even introduced myself!"

"Uh-huh!"

"And Rarity, your business depends on being known and having your work recognized." Twilight looked to her fellow unicorn, who gave a much shorter, more dignified nod than Pinkie Pie had. "You're always making connections with other ponies, even when it wouldn't necessarily be an immediate help to your work. You're both friendly, outgoing mares with plenty of experience getting to know other ponies, and you both spend lots of time around Ponyville getting to know everypony."

"My goodness, when you put it like that," replied Rarity, hesitating for effect and holding back a smile at the flattery, "I certainly do see what you mean. Of course we'll help you out, darling!"

"Great! So, um," said Twilight, "How exactly does a pony, uh, _do_ that? Make friends, I mean."

"Well," Rarity looked to Caramel, who at some point during the conversation had settled and was listening intently, his ears turning to each mare as they spoke in turn. "I have always found that the most practical method is to have a mutual friend introduce you. For example, Twilight, this is my neighbor Caramel. Caramel, this is my dear friend and companion Twilight Sparkle."

Caramel leaned forward and extended a hoof in greeting. Responding in kind, smiled in what she hoped was a genuine manner.

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ **◊ Rarity ◊ **◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊

Rarity watched as Twilight Sparkle returned Caramel's hoofshake, a nervous grimace spreading across the usually composed features of her friend. The white unicorn realized that this was perhaps Twilight's most challenging assignment; Rarity's own devoted friendship with Celestia's student had first been forged in the fires of dreadful adversity, their shared experience of terrible danger creating a fast yet powerful bond of sisterhood. Assuming that all went well, Twilight would not have that same advantage with any of her new potential friends.

The earth pony stallion and the unicorn mare, having been introduced, proceeded to stare at each other in silence. Pinkie Pie, being occupied by reviewing the purchases Rarity had made on her behalf, demonstrated her all too rare ability to remain relatively silent. Amidst a background chorus of excited repetitions of "yep" and "that's right" to the tune of boxes opening and paper padding crinkling, Rarity's neighbor and best friend performed an awkward dance. One would open his or her mouth to speak just as the other looked up, only to be seized by uncertainty and silence, turning their gaze somewhere else and giving the other their turn.

"You know," Rarity offered, taking the opportunity to step in and make the awkward duet a trio, "Caramel has a twin sister, in Appleloosa."

"Really?" Twilight's ears perked forward, one angled at Rarity and the other to Caramel, who for some reason reason shifted as if suddenly uncomfortable. Not the sort of thing the average pony would notice, but Rarity had spent quite a long time learning to pick up the subtle clues of body language that could make all the difference in high society.

"Uh, yeah," responded Caramel, in that queerly deep voice of his. Rarity noticed Twilight jump slightly, no doubt due to the unusual timbre of the small stallion's speech. "Same cutie mark 'n' everything."

"We were there when the dispute with the buffalo was resolved," exclaimed Twilight, becoming excited. "Such a wonderful opportunity for cultural exchange. You know, I think I actually remember seeing your sister!"

Caramel seemed to startle for just a fraction of a second, and then beamed a little, an expression that was equal parts genuine pride and awkward feelings. Rarity wondered if there was some tension between Caramel and his sister.

"Yeah, she told me all 'bout the whole thing!" he said, nodding. "After all a'that arguing, it was solved with pies. Can you believe- well, I guess y'can, you were there, right?"

Twilight nodded, and Rarity noticed that Caramel seemed to have much more of her attention now. She wondered at first if the stallion had caught her friend's eye, and smiled in amusement at the possibility of playing matchmaker (even though certain clues of posture and demeanor led her to suspect Caramel's preference might not be for mares), but then she noticed something off about Twilight's own body language.

Admiration was directed at the yellow stallion, yes indeed; but this was the kind of admiration a pony had for a challenging puzzle or a news article of interest. Something plainly fascinated Twilight about Caramel, and it was not the stallion's somewhat androgynous good looks. Caramel, for his part, seemed to frequently be about to react one way, then think better of it, and several times appeared to be upset with himself after saying something, but trying to hide it as best he could. Twilight's attention alternated between curiosity and suspicion, before settling on something more genial. It was most peculiar.

"...and then she ate her hat!" said Twilight with a laugh, midway through recounting some event of the aftermath of the incident in Appleloosa. Rarity realized she'd started paying more attention to what the ponies before her were saying with their bodies than their mouths, so she'd missed an entire conversation. By this point, Twilight and Caramel were acting like good friends, and their postures were more relaxed. "So, what brings you out here, Caramel?"

"Oh, uh," stammered Caramel, the expression on his face being that of a pony who has just remembered that he had meant to be doing something before getting sidetracked. "Just picking up some teas. I kinda forgot to buy more before I ran out."

**٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭ ****Twilight Sparkle ****٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭**

Her studies had shown that shared experiences were an important factor in forming bonds of friendship, and although shared adversity or other unusual experiences often formed faster bonds, the literature Twilight had reviewed suggested strongly that regularly seeing other ponies in one's everyday activities was just as sure a means of making friends. In simpler terms, it made perfect sense to go shopping with new acquaintances.

"Why don't I join you?" asked Twilight, setting her new plan in motion. "I mean, if you're already out of tea, I'd feel bad keeping you out here and talking all the time instead of doing what you came to do."

Caramel smiled warmly, and gestured with a wave of his head towards the open door. The "Tea Cozy" was the name on the small, finely crafted sign. Twilight enjoyed tea as much as any other pony, but she'd always had Spike run the regular errands since they moved to Ponyville, and hadn't yet visited this shop. She'd heard there was some kind of conflict between Pinkie Pie and the proprietress, but she didn't know the details. Indeed, until today, she hadn't even seen more than a brief glimpse of the mare running the Tea Cozy, and so far her only view had been a bit distracted by the chaotic nature of the events unfolding around her.

Perhaps she could learn more about the nature of the difficulties between the two ponies if she got to know the other side of it. Pinkie Pie (who was presently distracted by colorful wrapping paper) had mentioned a series of unfortunate accidents. However, few ponies in Ponyville were unfamiliar with the special sort of randomness that was Pinkie Pie, to say nothing of the kind of disasters that some other ponies could visit upon businesses, architecture, gardens, and the general livelihood of PonyvillIans. It seemed to Twilight Sparkle that the mare running the Tea Cozy was either exceedingly unreasonable, or else there was something other than what Pinkie Pie was able to explain. It was something to investigate, and puzzles always got Twilight's neurons firing.

"Thanks so much, girls!" exclaimed Twilight, turning to Pinkie Pie and Rarity with a smile, "I knew I could count on you two to help me get started with this new assignment. Do you mind if I check in with you again, later?"

"Of course not, darling!" replied Rarity.

"Yeah," said Pinkie Pie, "duh! I'm gonna have to make a list of all the ponies I'm friends with who aren't ponies you're friends with, so that you can be friends with them, too, and we'll be the friendliest friends in all of Equestria!"

Twilight bade her friends farewell, and joined Caramel as he entered the Tea Cozy.

○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○ **Pinkie Pie ○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○**

This was going to make her plans more complicated, but Pinkie Pie was Ponyville's Number One Party Planner, and she was nothing if not prepared for fun and friendship. Gathering up her purchases and thanking Rarity with a hearty hoof-shake, Pinkie Pie pranced to the nearest sundries store to purchase pins and select strings.

Alliteration is super-fun, but she was going to need to make some changes on the cork-board. Making this plan work with the other hundred and seven plans she had running at the moment was going to be as tricky as a very tricky thing. If she misjudged something, or her reserves of party supplies weren't up to the task, it could send everything toppling down, and not in the fun way like the hundred-foot domino chain she set up last night. She was going to have to pay extra-special-attention to all the little twitches, flutters, flops, and itches she felt during the day, and compare them to the ones she felt when ponies made new friends.

Bounding ahead, Pinkie Pie pondered and plotted

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ **◊ Rarity ◊ **◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊

Rarity realized that Twilight's latest assignment from the Princess had special ramifications. While she understood by now that high society wasn't all that she had dreamed of as a filly, that by no means meant that she had given up on her goals of integrating herself into it, and then rising to its peak. It simply meant that she had to make some alterations.

As it was, her method had been changing towards one of asserting her place among the upper crust by remaking it in her own image, using her knowledge of fashion and her peerless dressmaking skills to direct the trends among Ponyville's elite. There were ever more signs that Ponyville was making an impact on matters In Canterlot and Manehattan (she didn't know how she failed to realize it before, what with the Princess's selection of the town as a site for the Summer Sun Celebration), and she intended to be the bearer of the horn that directed those trends.

As Twilight Sparkle was both her dear friend, a fellow unicorn, the protege of Princess Celestia herself, and until recently a citizen of Canterlot, the bookish mare had a central place in Rarity's designs for the future of Ponyville. If she was seeking out new friends, then it would behoove Rarity to take care and steer Twilight towards mares and stallions of proper influence. It wasn't just what would be best for Rarity, nor for Ponyville at large, though both of those certainly factored into it. No, it would be what was best for Twilight. After all, if Ponyville was to wind up the center of a new "cottage industry" of fashion trends, then it would be important to keep Twilight Sparkle (and the rest of their friends, too) in a secure position of influence, for the sake of their welfare and reputations.

This was going to take a bit of consideration. Fortunately, Rarity was nothing if not skilled at analyzing trends and making designs based upon them. These skills applied to dresses, and they applied to ponies, too.

**٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭ ****Twilight Sparkle ****٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭*********٭**

The interior of the Tea Cozy was a bit of a shock. Twilight Sparkle had expected either one of two possibilities; the first being the familiar, slightly worn appearance of most of the shops in Ponyville. The majority of those shops were maintained by two ponies at the most, and generally could not afford the gleaming and pristine appearance of the high-class boutiques of Canterlot. The minority had been the second possibility: armed with knowledge of what Rarity had done to mimic—and in some ways, exceed—the style and glamour of Canterlot's most highly reputed businesses, Twilight knew that there was a strong possibility that other ponies might do the same. After all, though Ponyville was often derided as "the sticks" by citizens of Canterlot, it was much nearer to the gleaming capitol of Equestria than any other town. A few spots of influence here and there were to be expected.

The Tea Cozy, however, defied expectations. It defied explanations. Somehow, in the small space that a single shop could afford to use in Ponyville's increasingly crowded market district, the proprietress had managed to create a store of seemingly infinite depth. A close and objective analysis revealed the clever use of light and shadow (together with the careful placement of mirrors) to create the illusion of not only depth, but of a sort of subdued grandeur. Small lanterns, curtains, and the clever arrangement of products and packaging upheld the image of a place that was at once spacious and, appropriately enough, _cozy_. There was a very deliberate creation of the feeling of comfort and solitude here, and until she started analyzing it, Twilight felt as though she could have felt comfortably alone in the Tea Cozy even with the shop packed to capacity with ponies on the most hectic market day. It was the sort of atmosphere the very best teahouses and cafes cultivated, but also that which her most beloved libraries and bookstores engendered.

"Hello! Welcome to the Tea Cozy," chirped Pinkie Pie, from just behind Twilight. No, that wasn't quite right; for although the pony behind her certainly sounded very much like Pinkie Pie, there was a sense of calm and grace that Pinkie lacked. It was not until Twilight turned to look at the pony, however, that she realized just how strange the resemblance was.

The pony behind her, recognizable as the proprietress of the Tea Cozy (who had previously only been seen from a distance or in Twilight's peripheral vision), looked like nothing so much as an identical twin of Pinkie Pie in all respects but her coloration. That same poofy and curling mane and tail, the same proportions and sense of energy, the same bright and cheery nature, even the same sense of something being slightly _off_ about the mare. The only differences were the color of her fur, mane, and eyes, and that her disposition was somehow calmer in spite of all the energy. It was as if someone had taken Pinkie Pie and dyed her a different color, then fed her something other than frosting-coated baked goods and candy.

"Um, hi," replied Twilight, after what was perhaps too great a time staring at the green earth pony before her. "You're the owner, right?"

"Yes, indeed!" came the reply. It was the same sort of- well, no, it was a _similar_ excitability. Where an excited Pinkie Pie looked to be twitching slightly even when her Pinkie Sense wasn't working, this mare seemed to have a sort of cool, focused energy. "My name is Tealove! How can I help you today? Would you maybe like to try a free sample of some tea? I just brewed a lovely peach leaf infusion."

Without waiting for Twilight to respond, Tealove floated over to the front counter of the shop. At least, that was how it seemed to Twilight. Once again, she was struck by the bizarre similarities to Pinkie Pie; instead of bouncing, Tealove bounded with the practiced grace of a ballerina.

"That sounds delicious," replied Twilight, after another moment of contemplation. She caught Caramel pretending not to stare at her out of the corner of her eye, but dismissed it. "This is the first time I've been in here... I'm Twilight Sparkle."

"Oh, yes!" Tealove chirped, pausing to grab a teapot and pour its contents into a trio of cups before setting it back down. "You live with the little dragon, Spike? He's always coming in here, he tells the most delightful stories!"

Which meant, it occurred to Twilight, that perhaps Spike had a hoof (or perhaps claw was the correct term) up on her in the task of making friends in Ponyville.

"Well, yes," she explained, more than a little embarrassed, her ears tilting downward and her shoulders slumping in defeat . "I'm afraid I've let my studies get away with me. He is my assistant, but I've been relying on him a bit too much, it seems. I hardly know anypony in town aside from my best friends, and the Princess seems to have realized it."

Tealove brought over a platter bearing the cups, letting Twilight telekinetically lift one, before walking to the back of the store and offering another to Caramel, who carefully grasped it between his forehooves.

"So it's true, then," said Tealove as she set the platter back down and took a moment to sip from the remaining cup. "I must admit, I was a bit suspicious at first. I mean, how often does one not only meet a baby dragon, but find out that he was raised by the Princess, and is assistant to her most prized personal pupil?"

"Well," Twilight replied, her embarrassment now more a matter of feeling humble than of realization of failure, "I wouldn't go that far."

"Oh, but I would," said Tealove with a slightly mischievous smile, snout half-buried in her cup. "You know it's not every day that such an important pony comes to Ponyville. When Spike first came to visit, I just _had_ to find out more, so I asked around, and do you know that the Mayor said it's true? At least, she thinks so."

"What do you mean?" asked Twilight, a little confused, but cheered by the warmth of her beverage.

"Well, the Princess doesn't just pick anypony to be her _personal_ student. I mean, plenty of ponies would want to be, and there's got to be tons of them trying to get close to her and be on her good side, but don't you know that the Mayor said the Princess picked you without you even asking?"

"Um," Twilight mumbled, the embarrassment returning full-force as she tried to hide behind her cup. "I guess she did."

"Don't be embarrassed, silly filly!" cheered Tealove, offering a bright (if slightly tea-stained) smile. "It's something to be proud of, she obviously has something super-special in mind for you. I mean, with all the grown-up stallions and mares who wanted to get appointed to such an important position, she picked you when you were a foal!"

Twilight mulled this over in her head, and was about to reach a conclusion, when Tealove gasped sharply.

"I just realized!" the earth pony cried, "you're always ordering _teas_ from me!"

"Well," replied Twilight, embarrassment and contemplation turning to confusion, "isn't that what you, uh, sell?"

"Not _just_ teas, no, no, no!" Tealove bounded across the store to a display of numerous containers, inspecting the label and poking her snout in each one to sniff them, and pushing Caramel out of the way. "Ponies prefer tasty tisanes to tea, anyway!"

"Ti-whats?" Twilight moved back to join Tealove, inspecting the labels, giving Caramel a nervous half-smile as he backed up.

"_Tisanes_," exclaimed Tealove as she popped up from an immense jar labeled _local rosehips_. "From the French, meaning 'an infusion used as a beverage or medicine, principally those using dried herbs'."

"Isn't that what a 'tea' is?" asked Twilight, looking to Caramel for confirmation. The stallion nodded, then seemed to rethink it, and shrugged.

"Yes and no," replied Tealove, now poking her entire head into a huge glass container marked as _trottingham peppermint_. "Technically, tea is a tisane, but not all tisanes are teas. 'Tea' is just the name for the plant, y'know?"

"That's true," said Twilight, "_Camellia sinensis,_ right?"

Tealove nodded, and pulled the top of another jar off, inhaled deeply, and grabbed a ladle, beginning to scoop dried leaves into a small box. The label on this one read simply, _chamomile_. Closing up the box and re-sealing the jar, the earth pony pushed the box to Twilight.

"On the house," she said with a grin. "I recommend having it earth pony style."

"Earth pony style?" Twilight asked, sniffing the box and levitating it up.

"Let it cool, and then pour it over oats," explained Tealove. "It's traditional! Just drinking it from a cup is delicious, too, but there's something so soothing about doing it the old-fashioned equine way. Try it next time you're feeling overworked and need to relax."

Twilight nodded along, although it occurred to her that she very likely would be too stressed to remember the tea—or rather, _tisane_—when it would be best to have it.

"Well, thank you!" she said, levitating the small package over to the counter and setting it down. "Would you mind if I looked around a bit more, and actually paid for some things?"

"_No!_" Tealove feigned a gasp of horror, then laughed. "Go ahead, silly filly!"

As Tealove returned to her spot behind the counter, Twilight began to examine the available selection. With the knowledge of the difference in earth pony traditions from those of her unicorn kin, many more of the items for sale made sense. There were a number of broad, shallow bowls with patterns of grains and grasses, several of them as part of a set with a matching teapot. She would have previously assumed they were some odd sort of platter, but if earth ponies liked to have their tea poured over grains, it made sense that these were intended for that purpose. The forms of most of these sets did suggest earth pony construction techniques, with the sort of rough and slightly chunky features that might result from an artisan who had to rely on hooves for manipulating clay.

A single, peculiar bowl stood out, however. Rather, it stood out for Twilight, accustomed as she was to searching libraries and bookstores for hidden treasures of literature; to any other customer, it would have been a dusty and unfashionable item tucked behind the more fashionable merchandise. It seemed an odd mix of that same rough craftsmareship, but there were little fine details, and markings made as if with a small tool, or perhaps a claw. Twilight thought briefly of a time when Spike had experimented with ceramics, and wondered if a dragon had been involved in its creation. The inside of the bowl bore a solar motif, with a sun rising over a simply painted landscape. At the center of the sun, a small figure of a crowing rooster had been placed, sculpted out of clay and then attached to the inside of the bowl. It was charmingly rustic, apparently unique, and just the right thing for trying a new way of having tea. She carefully levitated it out, and brought it to the counter.

"How much for this?" she asked Tealove, setting the bowl down on the counter. It was large enough that Twilight imagined that several ponies could eat out of it at once without even bumping heads.

"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness," mumbled Tealove, inspecting the bowl from multiple angles, and pausing to brush it with a feather duster, working up a cloud of dust that made Twilight sneeze. "Bless you! I haven't seen this in months! I'd almost forgotten I had it, you know? But here it is. So strange..."

"I know, I've never seen that sort of work," Twilight said, raising a hoof to shoo away some dust particles. " Where was it made?"

"You know, I don't know!" replied Tealove, flipping through a ledger with the tip of her hoof. "It's the funniest thing, but it was in a box with a bunch of other stuff I'd ordered through a distributor, and _they_ said they didn't know how it got there, either! I know I came up with a price for it, but I'll need a moment to find it."

Twilight spotted movement elsewhere in the store, and remembered something else that was unusual. "Well," she said, "in that case, I'll look around a bit more."

Excusing herself, Twilight stepped away from the counter, and walked to the back of the Tea Cozy, spotting the stallion who had entered with her. The peculiar mannerisms and way of holding his body, and the subtle little clues of certain things having been learned deliberately as opposed to being innate, together with certain other habits that were perhaps forgotten from childhood by all but his bones and muscles; these were enough to clue her in, and her conversation with him had confirmed it. Twilight approached Caramel, cautiously, and called his name in a hushed tone. When he turned to look, she smiled as warmly as she could, trying to mimic her mentor's own gentle expressions.

"I know how hard it is, and you don't want everypony to know. But if you're going to tell ponies otherwise," she said in a gentle whisper, "you might want to be a little more careful about the details. I saw you in Appleloosa after your 'sister'."

Caramel looked shocked, then angry, then defeated. "It's that obvious, huh?"

"No, it isn't," replied Twilight. "Most ponies don't know about that spell, and those that do either don't realize it needs to be recast now and then, or don't recognize the side effects. Your doctor is in Appleloosa?"

"He is," said Caramel, his expression changing to one of frustration, casting his gaze to some glass jars of loose teas on the counter. "I know he's doing more good out on the frontier, but it's a long way for me to go to find a unicorn I can trust who knows the spell. Especially since it takes more'n one casting t'get it to hold and not blink on 'n' off when I exert myself. I was changing every couple'a seconds for a while there."

Twilight looked to the jars of tea as well, and smiled at Caramel's reflection.

"Why not just come to the library, then?" she asked, and turned to show her cutie mark as Caramel looked to her, confused. "Rarity and I forgot to mention it, but my talent _is_ magic. I've cast that spell before, and I've got the hang of it."

"You'd- you won't tell anypony, right?" asked Caramel, hope conflicting with a need to be cautious.

"You wouldn't be the first pony visiting me for something other than library books," Twilight replied. "And no, I won't tell you who was."

"That would make things a lot easier," observed Caramel with a smile. "You'd do that for me?"

Twilight nodded, and extended a hoof to playfully bump against Caramel's shoulder. "Well, you seemed pretty open to being the first pony to help me with my assignment of making friends. And like they say, 'what are friends for?'"

-**Author's Notes**-

Reviewing "Over A Barrel", there's plenty of shots where you can see "Caramela" clearly and plenty where you can see "Caramel" clearly, but I couldn't find any frames where they were unambiguously in the same place. Any time one appears, the other has been off-screen for a moment, perhaps just long enough for an experienced unicorn to cast a "patch" for a spell that was hastily cast in the first place, or for a hastily cast spell to go all screwy.

Tealove's relationship with Pinkie Pie and the name of her shop are owed to the bronies of TVTropes and their fanon for the best pony.


End file.
